Comparative Outcomes and Toxicity in Patients With Esophageal Cancer After Trimodality Therapy With Step-and-Shoot Intensity-Modulated Radiation Therapy Versus Volumetric Modulated Arc Therapy: The MD Anderson Experience.

Aims: To evaluate outcomes and toxicity after intensity-modulated radiation therapy given as step-and-shoot (SS) or volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT) for patients with locally advanced esophageal cancer treated with trimodality therapy (i.e. neoadjuvant concurrent chemoradiation therapy followed by surgery).

Bladder-preserving radiation therapy for patients with locally advanced and node-positive bladder cancer.

Purpose: Trimodality therapy for muscle-invasive bladder cancer (MIBC) yields similar oncologic outcomes compared to radical cystectomy in appropriately selected patients; however, data regarding locally advanced MIBC (LA-MIBC) is limited. We explored our experience with LA-MIBC undergoing radiation therapy (RT).

Methods: We retrospectively identified 30 patients from an institutional prospectively collated database with non-metastatic, LA-MIBC.

How the interplay among the tumor microenvironment and the gut microbiota influences the stemness of colorectal cancer cells.

Colorectal cancer (CRC) remains the third most prevalent cancer disease and involves a multi-step process in which intestinal cells acquire malignant characteristics. It is well established that the appearance of distal metastasis in CRC patients is the cause of a poor prognosis and treatment failure. Nevertheless, in the last decades, CRC aggressiveness and progression have been attributed to a specific cell population called CRC stem cells (CCSC) with features like tumor initiation capacity, self-renewal capacity, and acquired multidrug resistance.

Transformative learning for a sustainable and healthy future through ecosystem approaches to health: insights from 15 years of co-designed ecohealth teaching and learning experiences.

This paper presents insights from the work of the Canadian Community of Practice in Ecosystem Approaches to Health (CoPEH-Canada) and 15 years (2008-2022) of land-based, transdisciplinary, learner-centred, transformative learning and training. We have oriented our learning approaches to Head, Hands, and Heart, which symbolise cognitive, psychomotor, and affective learning, respectively. Psychomotor and affective learning are necessary to grapple with and enact far-reaching structural changes (eg, decolonisation) needed to rekindle healthier, reciprocal relationships with nature and each other.

Involvement of Met receptor pathway in aggressive behavior of colorectal cancer cells induced by parathyroid hormone-related peptide.

Background: Parathyroid hormone-related peptide (PTHrP) plays a key role in the development and progression of many tumors. We found that in colorectal cancer (CRC) HCT116 cells, the binding of PTHrP to its receptor PTHR type 1 (PTHR1) activates events associated with an aggressive phenotype. In HCT116 cell xenografts, PTHrP modulates the expression of molecular markers linked to tumor progression.